Huntington BeachCruiser Meet - Street Rods in Surf City

In the past 10 years, the Huntington BeachCruiser Meet has become a custom in the California beachside city of Huntington Beach.

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The event is set up to allow vehicles to park along old Main Street and in the parking lot across from the "Surf City" municipal pier. The theme is simple: woodies, Nomads, and any pre-1968 vehicle that toted a surfboard or could have. Past shows have mostly included American-made "woodie" station wagons from 1928 (Ford Model As) through 1953 (Buicks), early- to later-model steel-bodied station wagons, VW buses, and panel trucks. Recently, things have changed slightly, both in the show duration and theme. The event has expanded to two days in recent years, with the second day featuring special parking on the pier and vendors filling the beach parking lot to sell vintage surfboards, hand-carved wooden tikis, custom beach cruiser-style bikes, restoration parts, and any kind of surf/woodie culture bric-a-brac you never even knew existed.

The theme has shifted in terms of the vehicles allowed to participate as well. This year's show saw more hot rods, later-model muscle cars and resto-mods, and vehicles towing restored small travel trailers, and even some groovy van-tastic '70s-style vans with tinted bubble portal windows, slot mags, shag carpet, and airbrushed murals (and don't forget the captain chairs). There were even some micro-Euro jobs in the mix with the VW bugs and buses in attendance; however, these photos reflect a more domestic theme. The weather is almost always good (only one rain out in the last 10 years); the overcast shadows burn off by late morning. Check the "Woodie Times" National Woodie Club publication or the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce or Civic Center for information on next year's event.